Does Government Spending Bring Prosperity?

The Ludwig von Mises Institute has published an article by the late economist Percy L. Greaves, Jr., under this same title. Greaves argues for a free market and states that most people fail to understand the real causes of depressions. Excerpt follows:

Many leaders in high places now [1955] promise us that our government will never again permit poverty and depression to devastate our land. They propose more government spending as a cure for every economic evil. And millions of people believe that such a program will work.

The underlying philosophy behind political spending is not new. Similar ideas have appeared throughout all history. They came to full flower shortly after the economic collapse of 1929, when unbalanced budgets were generally accepted as necessary economic measures for relieving those in distress. You could not let innocent people starve, could you?